The No. 24 state-ranked Long Beach City College women’s volleyball team let a good chance to climb up in the South Coast Conference slip away as the Vikings suffered a 3-2 loss to visiting No. 20-ranked Pasadena City College on Wednesday night.  LBCC took the first two games to jump ahead 2-0, but could not put the Lancers away, dropping the final three games.  The Vikings lost the match by scores of 25-20, 27-25, 18-25, 22-25, and 13-15 to fall to 14-7 overall and 7-5 in SCC play.

Long Beach appeared to be on its way to a sweep after leading 18-16 in game three. But Pasadena got a pair of kills to tie the match at 18. Then behind the serving of Galia Sotomayor, PCC closed out the game with seven straight points, including three from aces, to win 25-18.

The momentum then swung to the Lancers. Pasadena held off the Vikings in game four and jumped out to an 8-6 lead in the fifth game. The Vikings rallied to tie at 10 and got as close at 14-13, but a kill by PCC’s Ashley Marsh ended the match.

“It was a tough loss to swallow,” said LBCC head coach Suzie Witmer. “Hopefully we learn from it and come out ready to play on Friday against Mt. SAC. We’re in a must-win situation if we want the season to go any further than next week.”

Sophomore outside hitter Maricris Lapaix led the Vikings with 14 kills and added eight digs. Freshman right side Lauren Nieraeth had a good match posting a .308 attack percentage with 12 kills and eight digs.  Sophomore libero Grace Chang led all with 29 digs and freshman setter Cashmere Santos posted 40 assists and six digs.

Pasadena (14-6, 9-3 SCC) had four players post double-digit kills with Candice Price leading the way with 14. Galia Sotomayor totaled 12 kills and 12 digs.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Nov. 14) at 6 p.m. when it travels to Mt. San Antonio College for a SCC match.

From LBCC reports